Classification: Two-year public college or university.
Modules Used:
- Module 1: Get a Grip on Your Finances: Smart Spending for Students.
- Module 2: Seek out Financial Aid: Funding Resources and Financial
Obligations.
- Module 4. Take Control of Your Future: Finishing School and Repaying Your
Loans.
- Module 5: Now That You Are About to Graduate: Taking Control of Your Life.
How Used:
- Academic-success courses.
- High-school-outreach program.
- Summer bridge program.
- TRIO programs.
- Pre-graduation workshops.
Program Description: Faced with rapid enrollment growth and
significant increases in student-loan volume, the financial-aid staff at GateWay
Community College challenged themselves to change the way they conducted
financial-aid business. As a result, they developed a highly proactive approach
to financial literacy, debt management and default prevention. The director of
financial aid says of the new approach, "As a commitment to our students, we
have developed many new initiatives in financial aid, which allow our office to
overcome the typical challenges of limited staff availability to conduct
intrusive financial-aid advising, default prevention, debt management, outreach
and educational programs." By making a commitment to a solid debt-management and
default-prevention program, the staff now is able educate prospective, current
and former students about student loans, money management, repayment and
financial aid in general. Using USA Funds® Life Skills®,
the staff has successfully integrated the modules into several different
initiatives:
Counseling and Personal Development
classes. Financial-aid professionals partner with
the instructors in this course to facilitate the delivery of Module 1: Get a
Grip on Your Finances: S mart Spending for Students and Module 2: Seek
out Financial Aid: Funding Resources and Financial Obligations. These
sessions are scheduled in a computer lab where the presentations can be
interactive. Copies of the student skills book for both modules are provided to
each student participant. Approximately 250 students participate in these
sessions each semester.
Achieving College Excellence and Summer Bridge
programs. Financial-aid professionals work with the coordinators
of the ACE program and the Summer Bridge program to deliver Module 1: Get a
Grip on Your Finances: Smart Spending for Students and Module 2: Seek
out Financial Aid: Funding Resources and Financial Obligations. ACE is
designed for first-generation, minority and low-income high-school juniors and
seniors, and the Summer Bridge program is the companion program for recent
high-school graduates. The traditional Summer Bridge program, targeting business
and nursing students, is offered in the summer, fall and spring, as well. During
the past two years, the financial-aid staff has presented to more than 500 ACE
and Summer Bridge students.
TRIO programs. Two TRIO programs, Upward Bound and
Student Support Services, are part of the financial-literacy initiative.
Invitations from the coordinators of these two groups provide additional
opportunities to offer Module 1: Get a Grip on Your Finances: Smart Spending
for Students and Module 2: Seek out Financial Aid: Funding Resources
and Financial Obligations to high-school students (Upward Bound) and
returning adults, students with disabilities or low-income students (Student
Support Services).
Pre-graduation workshops. Module 4: Take Control of Your
Future: Finishing School and Repaying Your Loans and Module 5: Now That
You Are About to Graduate: Taking Control of Your Life are the backbone of
the most-recent initiative, pre-graduation interactive workshops for students
preparing for graduation. A financial-aid professional conducts these two-hour
sessions in a computer lab, where students learn about their loans and repayment
options. One major point is emphasized throughout the sessions: "We are your
financial-aid representatives even after you leave this college; if you get into
financial trouble, come to us for assistance with your student loans." This new
workshop gets rave reviews from the 150 students who have gone through it over
the past three semesters.
With no increase in budget and limited human resources, the financial-aid
staff has delivered USA Funds Life Skills to thousands of students. The feedback
from students, staff and faculty has been overwhelmingly positive. The college's
default rate has dropped to 7.7 percent from 10.6 percent in just three years,
and further declines are expected because of increased opportunities to build
relationships and educate students.
The initiatives have been recognized with the GateWayCommunity College
Innovation of the Year Award for 2004 and the Maricopa Community
College Innovation of the Year and recognition from The League of
Innovation for Community Colleges. In addition, the college received the
Excellence in Debt Management Award at the 2004 National Conference on
Student Retention.
Staffing Requirements: The financial-aid staff delivers the
four modules for all initiatives.
Recommendations: Based on their success with USA Funds Life
Skills, the director of financial aid and his staff offer the following
recommendations:
- The design of the program materials is exceptional, making it easy to
promote and implement.
- Internal marketing of the program is essential; sell it to the
administration, the deans and the faculty. Helping them to make the connection
between student retention and financial literacy is a "must."
- Getting into as many classes as possible to deliver the program is an
effective delivery strategy.
- When delivering the materials to nontraditional students, preface the
presentation by letting these students know that other adult students have
found the information very helpful, even though some of it appears to be
geared for traditional students.
- Don't forget to bring presents, such as food. It works.
- Finding ways to measure the impact of the program will help to keep it
viable indefinitely.
Campus Contact:
Bradley Honious, Director of Financial
Aid
Phone: (602) 286-8109
E-mail: bradley.honious@gwmail.mariciopa.edu